Preparation of TiO2/mesoporous carbon composites and their photocatalytic performance for methyl orange degradation

Mesoporous carbon (MC) prepared using colloidal silica templates was used as a support to synthesize TiO2/MC composites using a sol-gel method. The TiO2 content and the crystalline structure of TiO2/MC photocatalysts can be tuned by the precursor composition and calcination temperature, respectively. MC and TiO2/MC composites were characterized by nitrogen adsorption, XRD, TG, SEM, TEM and electron energy dispersive spectroscopy. Results showed that the anatase TiO2 nanoparticles were highly dispersed on the surface of the carbon framework. As-prepared composites exhibited high photocatalytic activities for methyl orange (MO) degradation under UV irradiation, and a synergistic effect of adsorption and photocatalytic degradation was observed. The MO removal rate reached 89% after UV irradiation for 75 min. The kinetics of MO degradation can be well fitted with a first-order reaction model and the largest rate constant observed was 0.015 min−1.